Please join us for a discussion of the emerging role of information technology in health care. From tracking outbreaks of diseases to doctor/patient e-mail communication and medical record storage, information technology has demonstrated great potential for not only improving the quality of our health system but also for achieving significant cost savings. Janet Marchibroda and Bill Bernstein will discuss the benefits of investing in a national health information infrastructure.

Because the FCC has been slow to provide adequate spectrum for unlicensed broadband applications like Wi-Fi, growing numbers of software-savvy citizens are poised to adapt off-the-shelf Wi-Fi equipment to operate on the largely vacant, licensed bands adjacent to the crowded unlicensed frequencies. According to Scott Rafer, author of the provocative FCCster.com web site, unless the FCC acts quickly to provide more unlicensed spectrum for citizen access, the coming era of software defined radios will subvert the paradigm by which our airwaves are regulated and controlled.

TADAO YANASE previously headed METI's offices in New York and served as a Senior Advisor to JETRO there. He is now serving as Special Advisor to the Director General of METI's powerful Industrial Policy Bureau and is helping to coordinate METI's policy deliberations and to focus METI on a credible reform and revitalization plan for Japan's economy.

Children's investment accounts are gaining political momentum throughout the world. The United Kingdom recently enacted a universal Children's Trust Fund initiative, Singapore funds child development accounts throughout a system of Baby Bonuses, and various proposals have emerged in the United States. Join our panelists and invited legislators as they consider the concept and highlight a new groundbreaking initiative to test progressive saving and asset building for all American children.

A decade ago, President Clinton took office promising to overhaul the nation's health care system. As health care costs continue to climb and the ranks of the uninsured grow, health care reform is returning to the public agenda. Christine Ferguson and Chris Jennings, veterans of the 1990's debate on health reform, will talk about lessons learned from their experiences and discuss how they would tackle this issue today. Chris Jennings served as a Senior Health Policy Advisor to President Clinton and was a major proponent of the Clinton health plan.

Franz Knieps will describe recent reforms in the German health system and
address the implications for the American system. Germany has recently
taken steps to improve quality, increase cost efficiency, strengthen health
care structures, and modernize the management of the health care system in
response to a tight economic situation and an aging population. What can
America learn from this?

All Americans are joint owners of a trove of hidden assets. These assets - natural gifts like air and water, and social creations like culture and the Internet - constitute our shared inheritance. They're vital to our lives and make our economy run. Though it's impossible to put a precise value on them, it's safe to say they're worth trillions of dollars.

Recently, Peter Barnes, David Bollier and Michael Calabrese served on an

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Sara Horowitz will discuss the organization she founded and runs, Working Today, and how it provides New York City's growing independent workforce with health benefits. Working Today's Freelancer's Union allows part-time, contract, self-employed and temporary workers to pool together to purchase health insurance and other benefits from other providers. Independent workers make up almost a third of the nation's workforce- what are the implications of this innovative model for covering the nation's uninsured?